There were a lot of good signs of things to come despite the 5-3 loss to Minnesota in the season opener.

T.J. Syner had a great night with Toot Cahoon raving about his play after the game. . And he was skating on a line with freshman Michael Pereira, the brother of BU senior captain Joe Pereira, and the UMass newcomer scored the team's first goal of the season. Syner also scored on an end-to-end rush. He had eight shots on goal, and three of those came in the third period.

Minnesota only out shot UMass 34-32 while playing at home before 9,445 fans.

The Minutemen showed character in coming back from two goals down three times to pull within a goal.

They nearly tied it at the end on a Conor Sheary shot off the side of the post just before Minnesota scored into the enpty net, so it was really like a 4-3 game.

Except for late in the first period, and the period of time after the Minnesota goal 12 seconds into the second, the team demonstrated composure.

UMass coach Toot Cahoon said he thought that while there were mistakes, the freshmen did pretty well.

The difference he felt came in not putting enough pressure on the Gopher defense in the second and third periods like they did in the first. That gave Minnesota more time to possess the puck.

"And we dominated the faceoffs in the first period, but then they came back some in the second and third," Cahoon said.

Still, Rocco Carzo, who was centering the Syner-Pereira unit, won 11 faceoffs and lost only 5. Overall, UMass won 34 and lost only 21.

Minnesota did go 2 for 3 on the power play while UMass was 2 for 6.

UMass failed to score on a five-minute power play in the first after Nick Bjugstad hit Michael Marcou from behind.

The defense also failed to clear the area in front of the net after goaltender Paul Dainton had made a flurry of good saves, leading to Minnesota's fourth goal (by Justin Hall).

This showing should lift the team's confidence, as long as they don't get too down about the loss, and let it carry over into Saturday night.